Why you feel small

I wake up every day and notice something familiar.

There’s a part of me that wants to burst into action, full of energy and ideas.
There's also a part that hesitates, doubts, remembers all the limits I’ve absorbed over the years.

I see it in everyone around me, especially my leadership clients.
We all got tied to invisible chains when we were young.

Someone told me what was possible,

what was safe,
what I could achieve,
and what was out of reach.

I didn’t question it.
Those beliefs became my truths.
Others restrictions creeped into my dreams.

I learned my limits before I learned my powers.
But I also know the spark that can break those chains.

I see it in people who show us what’s possible. People who dared to step beyond the limits we thought were real. Watching them, something shifts.

My brain leans in.
My heart opens.
I start to wonder... quietly at first:

Maybe I can do cool things too?

That spark is tiny at first.
To grow, it needs three things:

Curiosity:
the courage to ask questions and look beyond what we think we know.

Possibility:
the vision that something more can exist.

Trust:
the safety to try, fail, and try again without fear.

Without those three, the spark dies. With them, it ignites a bonfire.

Right now, the world is working against us.

Curiosity is drowned in opinions.
Possibility is boxed in by limits.
Trust is fractured by misinformation.

It’s easy to feel small, stuck, or unsure.

And so, I choose to swing the pendulum the other way.

I choose to be radically curious,
to stretch toward every possibility,
and to build trust through consistency and authenticity.

When I do that, I feel alive.
Ideas flow.
Actions follow.
Energy rises.

The invisible chains start to rust, crumble, slide over my wrists, drop to my feet.

Finally, for the first time, potential feels like something I can reach, something I can shape. And the truth is, it’s always been there.

I just needed to nurture the spark.

photo: Kai J. Lee